NHL Pick: Montreal Canadians at LA Kings

The Montreal Canadians continue their west coast swing tonight in LA where they take on the Kings. The Kings and Canadians don’t hook up all that often just about 20 times over the past 20 years and that’s probably good for the Kings as they have won just 2 of the last 8 meetings.

Head to Head Trends

Canadians are 8-2 in the last 10 meetings. Canadians are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Los Angeles.

LA Kings (-150)

The LA Kings are 4th in the Pacific Division with 72 points which is tied for the final playoff spot in the west with both the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks so every game from here to the rest of the season is going to be an important one for the Kings. The Kings were the hottest team in the NHL just a couple weeks ago winning 8 straight games although they followed that up with 3 straight losses but they did win their last game so lets hope that was the start of another winning streak. The Kings are about middle of the pack on offense averaging 2.7 goals per game but they are more of a defensive team allowing just 27.5 shots and 2.6 goals per game. The Kings are also much better at home then on the road. At home the Kings are averaging 2.8 goals per game on offense while allowing just 2.1 goals per game.

LA Kings Trends

Kings are 9-3 in their last 12 overall. Kings are 19-7 in their last 26 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.

Montreal Canadians (+130)

The Montreal Canadians are 1st in the Atlantic Division with 87 points 3 points ahead of the 2nd place Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canadians have a fairly strong team although I think a lot of their success has come because of goaltender Cary Prices good play. The one big weakness for the Canadians is their backup goalie Dustin Tokarski who has not been very good this season especially over his last 8 starts picking up just 2 wins and allowing 3 or more goals in 7 of them. With Cary Price starting the last 7 games and this being the second of back to backs it looks like Tokarski will get the start so that gives the Kings a huge advantage.

Montreal Canadians Trends

Canadians are 1-4 in their last 5 in the fourth game of a 4-in-6 situation. Canadians are 0-5 in their last 5 vs. Pacific.

Conclusion

I’m obviously going with the LA Kings over the Canadians in this one. The Kings have played pretty good at home all season plus they are going up against a Canadians team who will have backup goaltender Dustin Tokarski in net so even though the Kings are a -150 favorite I still think that offers solid value.